@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
1−---
1+—-
22date: ~2016.8.30
33type: post
44title: Urbit monthly update (August)
@@ -11,51 +11,41 @@ navselect: blog
1111navpath: /
1212navhome: /
1313navclass: urbit
14−---
14+—-
1515<br /><br />
1616
1717Here's August's monthly letter from Tlon, only slightly late.
1818We've been doing a lot of planning and, unfortunately, a little
1919bit of research.
2020
21−We hope we're done with this research stuff. There is really
22−nothing more unpleasant than CS research. But the protocol and
23−crypto stated (`%ames` and `%jael`) just needed another round of
24−basic architecture. This is fortunately now done. We think.
25−
26−Also, we have more to say than we expected. The concept of an
27−"update" only makes sense when everyone already knows what's
28−going on. The first update is just the status quo.
29−
30−We'll be issuing *four* public letters in the next month or two:
31−these infrastructure milestones; an application/user-experience
32−MVP strategy; a documentation/education plan; and an upbeat,
33−super-motivating corporate PR narrative suitable for television.
34−You can skip the last one if you like.
21+We hope we're done with this research stuff. There is really nothing
22+more unpleasant than CS research. But the protocol and crypto state
23+(`%ames` and `%jael`) needed another round of basic architecture.
3524
3625## Infrastructure milestones
3726
3827By "infrastructure" we roughly mean everything in `/===/arvo,`
39−ie, the kernel and vanes.
28+ie, the kernel and vanes.
4029
4130Infrastructure development in the presently foreseeable future is
4231a system of four milestones, the first of which we've hit. We
43−have a reasonably good start on the second.
32+have a reasonably good start on the second:
4433
45−The first milestone (August 15) was "first inception" (FI), where
46−we claimed our true and final urbits.
34+- **FI - First inception**: The first milestone (August 15) was
35+"first inception" (FI), where we claimed our true and final urbits.
4736
48−The next milestone is a "continuity candidate" (CC), a release
49−where it's at least possible that we'll need no further
50−continuity breaches and/or reinstalls. CC requires a nontrivial
51−amount of further engineering work.
37+- **CC - Continuity candidate**: The next milestone is a "continuity
38+candidate" (CC), a release where it's at least possible that we'll
39+need no further continuity breaches and/or reinstalls. CC requires
40+a nontrivial amount of further engineering work.
5241
53−Sometime after that comes "final continuity" (FC), where we
54−explicitly renounce continuity breaches. CC to FC is a testing
55−milestone and is satisfied by collective judgment.
42+- **FC - Final continuity**: Sometime after that comes "final
43+continuity" (FC), where we explicitly renounce continuity breaches.
44+CC to FC is a testing milestone and is satisfied by collective
45+judgment.
5646
57−The last milestone is "security freeze" (SF), where we declare
58−the PKI final and issue live keys.
47+- **SF - Security freeze**: The last milestone is "security freeze"
48+(SF), where we declare the PKI final and issue live keys.
5949
6050## FI: first inception
6151
@@ -72,7 +62,7 @@ The Urbit network works and is an adequate, if still quite buggy,
7262social network, with two modes of social communication: chat and
7363long-form text with comments.
7464
75−People can learn to program in Hoon and even write %gall apps,
65+People can learn to program in Hoon and even write `%gall` apps,
7666but the documentation is lacking and involves wide gaps, which
7767must be filled by reverse engineering or public assistance.
7868Fortunately the Tlon people are reputed to be quite helpful.
@@ -123,8 +113,8 @@ Urbit handles all crashes correctly on all platforms. A stack
123113overflow or interrupt always produces a usable trace.
124114
125115Urbit boots with the proper, beautiful, functional, boot sequence
126−defined in the whitepaper. It's single-homed -- designed to
127−operate one ship per kernel -- and uses the event security model
116+defined in the whitepaper. It's single-homed — designed to
117+operate one ship per kernel — and uses the event security model
128118from the whitepaper.
129119
130120Urbit has a working end-to-end "permanent networking" message
@@ -237,7 +227,7 @@ The mug replacement work is also done, but needs to be debugged
237227(which is no easy task).
238228
239229Applying the canonical boot event system sounds like a giant
240−change, but it's actually pretty straightforward -- same for
230+change, but it's actually pretty straightforward — same for
241231single-homing. Arvo proper is only a few hundred lines of Hoon.
242232
243233The event system in `vere` needs to be replaced, but we have a
@@ -251,7 +241,7 @@ any other vane.
251241
252242Urbit's most serious problem right now is that many more people
253243are interested in it than are actually working on it. This
254−reflects its heritage as a basement project.
244+reflects its heritage as a basement project.
255245
256246Our most important work item remains opening up the codebase so
257247that community development can happen. We'll start turning the